continuing on with pictures from spring 2019 in london…

while moses was at joy school one morning at our friends’ flat in maida vale, i popped into clifton nurseries with gabriel. it’s a glorious little oasis tucked into the city streets!
 
 
another day after joy school we took a trip to the zoo! we have annual passes and have put them to good use this year, between london zoo and whipsnade zoo (about an hour north of london).
 
we schedule in a temple day every other month. the london temple is actually quite far and hard to access from london! we like to coordinate with other family (or two or three) to meet at the temple and then switch off babysitting while each couple goes inside.
 
here’s mo running around the temple grounds with his friend harris:

after our march temple trip, i did a 14 mile training run through the countryside. it felt so good to run outside of the city, and this was the furthest i’d ever run to that point. i ran from the temple to godstone farm, the cutest little petting zoo place that ian had taken the boys to. (moses was lucky and got a chocolate ice cream cone with dad!)
 
mothers’ day in england, referred to (i love this) as “mothering sunday,” is at the end of march. it’s pretty great to be an american mom living in the uk because i can claim both mothers’ days 😉 on mothering sunday, ian and the boys made me breakfast in bed! we had a great day together as a family and i felt sooooo grateful to be mom to these two beautiful boys.
 
 
 
we discovered gabriel’s favourite food at the beginning of april. chili!!
 
i had to snap a polaroid of gabe in that epic mess he made, to put it side by side with a similar photo of moses at a similar age!
 
springtime in london: after the magnolias come the cherry blossoms! check out moses and gabriel holding hands completely unprompted in the buggy ❤
 
we thought moses was dropping his nap (my worst nightmare, ha!) but then rebranded it as “resting time” when he can hang out in his bed quietly with a few books/toys. 95% of the time he falls asleep … so we’ve been able to preserve the boys sleeping at the same time in the afternoons, yes!!

trying out a new swing situation at the playground:
 
and enjoying the flower displays, man-made and god-made, in kensington & chelsea:
 
 
during general conference weekend, we spent a few hours in st. james’s park, which used to be our neighborhood park when we lived in covent garden.
 
 
 
gabriel got to go on a daddy date with ian to ride the london eye! he loved it!

 
more blossom snapshots, and more long runs!
 

 
 
one night for family home evening we dyed easter eggs:
 
and one weekday morning we gathered with a bunch of mom and kid friends for an easter egg hunt! my friend alexa dressed up as the easter bunny, and moses was completely starstruck and utterly thrilled to give her a hug and a high five! gabriel was a little more dubious 😉 (alexa’s little girls had no idea it was her under that costume!)
 
 
 
moses worked hard over several weeks to earn ten pounds to buy some “savannah animals” he had spotted in a store near our flat. he helped with lots of jobs around the house, took out one pound “for jesus” and gave it as tithing at church, and then we scooted to the store to make the long-awaited purchase. it was pretty exciting.
 
one sunday both boys immediately conked out in the buggy as soon as we started walking home from church. in an effort to keep them asleep i took a walk around our spectacularly blossoming neighborhood and sent marco polos to loved ones across the pond.
 
 
 
two of mo’s most common states – having found and devouring the books at any friend’s house / in mismatched clothes and a blur running around the garden getting dirty!:
 
in march and april gabriel started really enjoying going to the playground! we discovered a new-to-us one at battersea park that both boys loved.
 
these photos show off ian’s haircut job quite well…ha! he cut both of the boys’ hair and let’s just say that after he was done we decided to go back to a barber in the future 🙂
 
pics from a weekday walk / a sunday walk:
 
pretty scenes in notting hill and mayfair:
 
i love life in this city with my boys!